BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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SEMANTIC NET 3)

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A network of meaning bearing elements (or nodes) interconnected through specific (i.e. specified and oriented) links.

Any language is a semantic net. The systemic and cybernetic language, object of this work, is an example.

M. BODEN makes some interesting observations: "The concept of semantic net originated in psychology. It depicts human memory as an associative system wherein each idea can lead to many other relevant ideas, – and even to ‘irrelevant' ideas, linked to the first by mere coincidence… A semantic net consists of nodes and links. The nodes stand for specific ideas, while the links – whereby one idea can be accessed from another – represent various types of mental connections… The ‘meaning' of an idea represented within a semantic net is a function of its place in the system. It involves not only the node specifically labelled for the idea in question (violet, perhaps) but also the nodes that can be reached, directly or indirectly, from that node… Adding a new node will implicitly affect the meaning of all the existing ones…" (1990, p.95-6).

The semantic net model represents a conceptual space and is closely related to connectionism which "associative memory", grounded in both meaning and context" (p.119).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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